Speech by His Excellency Mr. Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalghem

Transcription

1 The Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya the General People's Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation Speech by His Excellency Mr. Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalghem Secretary of the General People's Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation Delivered before the Fifty Ninth Session of the United Nations General Assembly New York, 29 September 2004 Please check against delivery

2 In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful It is my pleasure to congratulate you on your election as President of this Session. Your election is a testament to the greatness of our African continent. Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to address you as I express the views of my country, Libya, on a number of issues that we deem important for joint international action and increased universal cooperation to tackle these serious and sensitive matters. Last year, we relinquished our right to speak to the President of the African Union in the hope that he would speak for the entire Union. It seemed that because the African Union does not have the post of Foreign Minister, the Ministers of member states were compelled to speak for this nonexistent post in the African Union; therefore, I am obliged to speak. All States concur that the current structure and rules of procedure of the United Nations are faulty, and all States agree on the need for reformation. Indeed, before we can discuss reforms in the Middle East and in the former Republics of the Soviet Union or in any area of the world, we must first reform the United Nations. Before we can talk about the lack of democracy in the world, we must first admit that it is lacking in the United Nations. And as the General Assembly is the parliament of all parliaments and as the Security Council is the government of all governments, we have no right to talk about democracy and reforms in the world unless these are first addressed from and corrected at the top.

3 The past fifty-nine years have proven that the General Assembly is merely a decorative body without a soul, and authority rests with the Security Council which controls all the work of the United Nations. Thus, my country proposes that the upcoming 60 th Session of the General Assembly be a decisive and important meeting with invitations extended to all world leaders to attend and declare that the 60 th Session shall decide on a radical reform of the United Nations. God willing, Muammar Al-Ghaddafi, for the first time, shall attend the 60 th Session as it will be a historical milestone in the United Nations and a transformation of the prevailing injustices. We propose that the 60 th Session be held in Geneva to facilitate the attendance of all world leaders and presidents even if an additional budget would have to be allocated. My country is ready to contribute financial support to this endeavor. There are two options before us: Our first option is to transfer the authority of invoking Chapters 6 and 7 to the General Assembly from of the Security Council. If this cannot be accomplished, we have no choice but to abandon the General Assembly and stop infusing money into this dead body. Our second option is to enlarge the membership of the Security Council by granting seats to new spaces such as the African Union, South East Asia (ASEAN) and Latin America. Additionally, the veto privilege would have to be reevaluated so as to become subject to new rules since membership of the Security Council will be expanded.

4 We warn that unless reform is implemented in this manner, the United Nations will cease to exist as unilateral acts are emerging outside the confines of the United Nations. The African Union must have a permanent seat in the Security Council which will alternate among its members. As the 60 th Session of the General Assembly draws closer, Libya is presenting a unique, bold and strong initiative involving the elimination of its programs of weapons of mass destruction, chemical and nuclear weapons, and the handing over of such equipment to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Libya which played the central role in the establishment of the African Union and contributed effectively to the liberation of colonized and oppressed peoples; Libya which extends along a coastline 2000 km long on the Mediterranean Sea, which is in the center of the world, a place of conflicts and a haven for tourism. And there can be no Mediterranean Sea without Libya and there can be no southern Mediterranean coast without Libya; Libya, which gave birth to the Third Universal Theory, the middle ground between capitalism and communism, and presented the world with the Green Book in its three parts to resolve the political, economic and social problems of society; LIBYA DESERVES TO HAVE A PERMANENT SEAT IN THE SECURITY COUNCIL.

5 Col. Muammar Ghaddafi presented a proposal to world leaders which they all approve. This proposal calls for the establishment of a Committee of Wise Men whose membership would consist of Presidents Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev and Bill Clinton to serve as authority to resolve conflicts in our world. The United Nations should pass a resolution in support of this proposal, All of us must continue combating terrorism. If we want to eliminate terrorism, we must eliminate its causes and not simply pursue its operations. As for oil, if we want oil supplies to be stable and its prices steady, we should keep wars and potential conflicts away from oil fields. Note: Colonel Ghaddafi will soon address the issue of the reform of the United Nations on his website ( Thank you.